News / West of England Combined Authority
Combined authority chief exec leaves with £219,000 payoff
West of England Combined Authority chief executive Patricia Greer has left the organisation with a £219,000 golden handshake.
Greer had been on sick leave since November 2022 but officially parted company with WECA on Thursday.
Her departure comes two months after the Local Democracy Reporting Service revealed that WECA was paying two chief execs at the same time for at least seven months.
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Dr Greer remained on full salary while Richard Ennis received £124,467 as acting interim for the four months between December 1 2022 and March 31, which is as far as the annual accounts go.
The payoff for Dr Greer, who earned £164,682 in 2022/23, plus £23,550 in employer’s pension contributions, equates to 16 months’ salary.
Dr Greer led the region’s devolution programme from 2015, resulting in the creation of WECA in 2017 where she became its first chief executive.
She previously served as a director at the Cabinet Office with five years in the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit, as well as being a strategic director in local government.
The announcement was made by the combined authority in a two-line press release on Thursday afternoon.
It said: The chief executive of the West of England Combined Authority, Dr Patricia Greer, will be leaving her role today.
“Dr Greer was instrumental in establishing the combined authority and in securing significant funding for the region, in excess of £2billion. Dr Greer is receiving a payment of £219,000.”
Metro mayor Dan Norris (left) with Patricia Greer (second left) and West of England Combined Authority staff at their office in Bristol – photo: WECA
It is understood that Ennis is continuing in the role on a temporary basis while the process to find a permanent replacement gets underway.
Ennis was paid a total of £268,410 for three senior temporary roles he held at WECA from April 1 2022 to March 31.
That figure is what he received and does not include the additional money WECA paid to a third party – likely to be a recruitment agency – for his services.
Councillors on the cross-party audit committee expressed concerns in July that the authority, which comprises Bristol, South Gloucestershire and Bath & North East Somerset councils, had been paying two chief executives at the same time for the previous seven months, as confirmed by WECA in June.
Ennis stepped up to Dr Greer’s position on an interim basis at the start of December from his previous role as interim director of investment and corporate services.
As an agency worker or contractor, Ennis does not receive pension contributions or pay for holiday or sick leave.
Main photo: WECA
Read next:
- Bickering and mistrust lands WECA on government watchlist
- Youth climate groups to march to WECA office to demand ‘free, fair buses’
- Metro mayor denies ‘blowing millions’ on Bristol underground study
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